Italian Battleship Impero - Design

Design

Unlike her sister ships Littorio and Vittorio Veneto, Impero and Roma were to have had a slightly larger displacement, length, and subsequently, a larger beam and draft, which was due to a naval program launched in 1938 to prepare Italian naval defenses for another war. She also would have been about 600 long tons (610 t) heavier than either of her earlier sisters, and also would have been about 3 metres (9.8 ft) longer due to the adding of a deck to the freeboard at the stem, or bow. Her beam was to have been 32.9 metres (108 ft) and her draft was to have been 9.6 metres (31 ft). The ship was planned to be manned by 1,920 sailors. The differences in weight were due to tests on Vittorio Veneto and Littorio which found that their bow was poorly built and caused hull vibration whenever the ships struck large waves. Impero was outfitted with the new hull. Another difference was that Roma and Impero could carry three reconnaissance planes on their quarterdeck, which was the result of a statement in the 1938 proposal.